Jace

by Alisa Woods

  Piper just stared at Jared because even though Jace misunderstood, she knew exactly what Jared was saying. That it couldn’t happen—meaning that Jared wouldn’t let it happen. She didn’t know what that meant to him, but she could see the cold determination in his eyes.

  “Maybe,” she said, carefully, “if we can find the missing shifters, and my brother, Noah, we’ll find something on the Senator as well. Something that will shut him down.”

  Jared nodded, still holding her in an intense gaze. “That’s our top priority. Rescuing your brother and the others. We’ll do that first.” Then he turned and strode from the room.

  Piper shivered a little in the cold wake he left behind.

  Jace didn’t seem to notice, just plated up their eggs and grabbed some juice from the refrigerator. They sat down to eat, and silence fell over them as they scarfed down the food. She was ravenous—strong night of sex tend to do that to her, and doubly so with the emotional tornado she had spun through.

  Just as they were finishing up, Jaxson and Olivia flew through the front door, their shoes pounding on the polished wooden floor on their way to the kitchen.

  “Oh good, you’re up!” Jaxson gushed. “We’ve got a line on your brother, Piper.”

  She jerked up from the table. “You do?”

  “My aunt Gwen is so much a better witch than I am,” Olivia said with a grimace. “It’s kind of ridiculous that I even think I can do magic compared to what she does.”

  Piper didn’t care about any of that. “Where is he?”

  “There’s an abandoned airfield on the outskirts of Seattle.” Jaxson turned to Jace. “Lots of empty hangars. Sound familiar?”

  Jace nodded. “Easy access, in and out. No reason for anyone to stop by. Perfect for conducting experiments that no one will ever see. Sounds like the kind of place Agent Smith would hang out.”

  “The only problem is the place is huge.” Jaxson shook his head. “We know exactly which hangar they’re in, assuming the coven’s magic is good and has pinpointed the right coordinates, but it’s wide open.”

  Jace grimaced. “If I were Agent Smith, I’d have security all around the perimeter. Lots of warning, so no one can get close. Especially since we’ve already crashed his party once.”

  “Exactly.” Jaxson hooked a thumb over his shoulder. “I’ll go round up some of the pack and get ready to roll. We need to move fast.”

  Piper agreed emphatically, she didn’t understand the source of their urgency. “Why?”

  Jaxson frowned. “It already took us an hour to get here from downtown. It’ll take at least another hour to reach the airfield. I don’t want them slipping away again.”

  Piper nodded quickly, and Jaxson and Olivia hurried out of the room.

  Jace turned to her. “You want to go, don’t you?”

  Piper snorted. “Besides the fact that you guys could use my tactical knowledge, I’d like to see you try to stop me.”

  Jace grinned and slid his hands up along her shoulders, to her neck, and all the way up to hold her cheeks with just his fingertips. He kissed her lightly. “You know, you turn me on when you talk like that.”

  She smirked. “And I wasn’t even trying.”

  He kissed her softly again. “I know. That’s the best part.” He pulled back, and a frown settled on his face. “But I actually don’t like the idea of you coming along. I don’t want to see you in any kind of danger. Ever.”

  “You’re not going all overprotective alpha on me, are you?” She looked up into his eyes with a saucy stare that dared him to even think about trying to use an alpha command on her.

  “Yeah,” he said, softly. “I think maybe I am.”

  The look he was giving her was the kind that reached inside her—past all the walls she had carefully built over her entire life to keep everyone out—and stirred the deepest parts of her. She dropped her voice, and said softly in return, “I’ll be careful. I always am.”

  He kissed her gently on the forehead, and it almost brought tears to her eyes. “Make sure that you do.”

  And without him saying it in so many words, she got the message loud and clear—if something happened to her, Jace would feel responsible, just like he felt responsible for those people in the village, whether that was really his fault or not. It made her even more determined to uncover the truth about that, but she also realized that she held another sacred duty in her hands—she needed to not only find her brother, she needed to survive as well.

  Because she was not going to be the person who broke Jace River’s heart.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Jace was riding shotgun while Piper drove the black sedan that belonged to his pack.

  They were riding across the broken asphalt road at the perimeter of the abandoned airfield where her brother, Noah, and the other shifters were being held. At least, that was what the witches claimed, although he was inclined to believe them. The pack had hastily pulled together a plan that was fraught with risk, undermanned, and really just a bad idea. But they didn’t have a lot of options at this point. They could wait and try at a later time, after gathering more intel, but that would just give Agent Smith another chance to slip away. Especially now that the Colonel knew Piper was on to him, and they were about to test just how involved he was in this whole scheme. Jace wouldn’t put anything past the man—anyone who abused his family would do anything he could get away with, if it served his purposes.

  Jace was still riding high on the fact that Piper wasn’t letting the Colonel jerk her around and intimidate her anymore—and that she had opened up to him. The night they spent together, even if that was all there ever was to it, was worth all the risk. He didn’t like the fact that the two of them were about to volunteer themselves for capture.

  “There’s the shack.” Jace used his miniature scope to check it out, even though they were still a half-mile way. “Looks like just a single guard.”

  Piper nodded and swung the car onto the long drive that would lead up to the shack. She adjusted her collar where the hidden microphone was sewn into the fabric. “Testing, testing. Can you still hear me, Jaxson?”

  His brother was waiting with the rest of the pack farther out along the perimeter, at the opposite side of the airfield. Jace and Piper were supposed to gather intel on security without raising alarms. Well, without raising whatever alarms would happen when they showed up—which would be pretty much all of them. They hoped. That was part of the point. Flush them out, see what they had, then come in for the assault from a different angle, that hopefully, they wouldn’t be expecting.

  If the witches’ magical GPS was correct, the objective was a large hangar in the middle of the airfield. There were several smaller hangars strung out along the length of the single lane airstrip that was crumbling and weed-filled from years of disuse. There were no visible planes in the area, but that probably just meant they were stashed in one of the smaller hangars.

  “I hear you loud and clear, Piper,” Jaxson’s voice came over the stereo speakers in their car. They had it tuned to a far-band frequency that was unlikely to be used by Agent Smith’s forces on the airstrip. The communication would be one-way once they left the car, but they were at the maximum distance from the pack right now—if Jaxson could hear them at this point, he should be still receiving once they were inside.

  “Do you have a visual on us?” Jace asked his own hidden microphone embedded in his shirt. The car was tricked out with a couple cameras, and he and Piper also carried button ones as well. But the best intel would be whatever movement happened on the airfield once they made their presence known.

  “Affirmative. I have a clean line of sight all the way to the hangar.” Jaxson’s voice was calm. He was the lookout, while the rest of the pack were strategically placed in three different camps around the perimeter, fully armed, and waiting for the signal for the assault. Jaxson would coordinate and lead the assault, but it was up to Jace and Piper to get him the intel he needed for it to be successful.


  “All right,” Jace said. “I’m going radio silent with the car stereo. Repeat, we will not be able to hear you from here on out. Please don’t forget to come get us.”

  “Well, don’t be all day about it,” Jaxson said. “I’ve got a lunch date with Olivia.”

  Piper smirked and smacked the off button on the radio. “How long have they been together?”

  “About six minutes.” Jace returned her smile and thought about how fast Piper had whirled into his life as well. “But so far they seem fabulously happy.” Jaxson could still hear them, but Jace wasn’t saying anything his brother didn’t already know. Besides, there wasn’t much Jace would keep from him.

  They were coming up on the guard shack. Just a hundred more feet.

  “Are they mated?” Piper gave him a sideways look, then kept her eyes on the road.

  “Yeah.” Jace grimaced. “I didn’t know Jaxson couldn’t have a mate until after it was all over. He kept it secret for a long time.” He watched her carefully to see if she would probe for more.

  “Am I the only one who knows your secret?” She was sneaking looks at him again, not watching the road. They were almost there.

  “Just you, me, my brothers, and the entire United States government—or at least the ones involved in the tribunal in Afghanistan.”

  She just nodded, and there was no more talking possible, due to the fact that they’d arrived at the shack stationed next to the chain-metal gate that surrounded the airfield. It wasn’t the kind that would keep out any serious attempt at infiltration, more a demarcation with an “Off Limits, Private Property” warning hung on it to keep out the curious and the idle.

  The guard was dressed in desert camouflage, with an M-16 looped around his shoulder. He was either military or ex-military, but either way, he meant business. And he wasn’t pleased to see them arrive, according to his stiff gait as he approached.

  Piper threw him a sexy grin, and even though Jace knew it was all for show, he couldn’t help having a twinge of jealousy. She had to deploy all her assets on the job, and he was getting a chance to watch her in action, but he wasn’t sure how he felt about that. In general? Very hot. Specifically, today? He didn’t like it at all.

  “This airfield is closed, ma’am.” The guard’s voice was gruff, as if that might dissuade them more than the gun. Or perhaps convince them he would use it.

  “Well, I’d imagine so,” Piper said with a smirk. “But we’re here to see the secret hangar where you’re hiding the shifters. Colonel Wilding sent us.” She beamed a faux-innocent smile at him.

  The guards face opened in surprise, but it didn’t take more than two-tenths of a second for his rifle to come up and point at her head. “Step away from the car!” His boots scuffed the ground as he stumbled back.

  Jace held in his growl. He had to play this cool, or it wasn’t going to work, but he didn’t like a gun pointed at her, no matter what. Piper already had her hands up, but she had to reach down to open the car door.

  “Hey, hands in the air!” the guard shouted.

  “Well, Hot Stuff with a Rifle, I can’t really do both, now can I?” Her voice was dead-on sexy and teasing, and Jace couldn’t hold back his smirk.

  On second thought, he kind of liked watching her work.

  Jace’s hands were already in the air as well. “Can I stay in the car, too?” he shouted, just to prod the startled guard a little more.

  The man’s snarl was clear even from ten feet away. His rifle point wavered uncertainly between Piper and Jace.

  “Stay right where you are!” The guard stumbled backward toward the shack, obviously changing his mind about the protocol.

  Jace and Piper kept their smiles and their hands in the air and waited.

  “Do you think this idiot can actually get us inside the airfield?” Piper asked out of the side of her mouth.

  “Well, not if you flummox him anymore. Take it easy on the guy, Piper. He’s probably only human.”

  She bit her lip in a way that made him want to bite it himself.

  “Hey, knock it off,” he said. “I don’t want to be sporting wood when they come to take me away in handcuffs. Could be embarrassing.”

  She tried to keep in her laugh, but her shoulders were shaking. The guard was on his short-wave radio, gesturing furiously at the car with his gun. It took a few minutes, but eventually a Jeep pulled out of a distant hangar and rumbled down the cracked concrete toward them.

  “I hope you’re seeing this, Jaxson,” Jace said quietly. “Jeep at twelve o’clock, sourced from the small hangar next to the target.” He had stowed his binoculars already, but by squinting through the afternoon sun, he could see at least four figures in the military-camouflaged vehicle. “I see two thugs and two suits.” He flicked a glance at Piper.

  She was keeping her eyes on the nervous guard. “Copy that.”

  The chain-metal gate rumbled on some mechanical servo that pulled it aside as the Jeep approached. The vehicle stopped on the far side of the gate, even though it was open. Two men in desert camouflage spilled out, followed by two men in dark suits. The paramilitary guys hustled toward them.

  “I’ve got eyes on Agent Smith,” Jace whispered, mostly for Piper’s knowledge, but also in case the cameras and Jaxson’s scope missed it. “He’s the tall one. Unknown suit accompanying him.”

  The thugs reached their car, and with a flurry of shouts and commands, they ordered Piper and Jace face down onto the dirt-packed road. Jace couldn’t see Piper any longer, given she had to exit on the opposite side, which coiled up tension in the pit of his stomach. While the thug shoved a boot in the middle of his back, holding him down, a prick of pain in his shoulder sparked alarm through him. He twisted around to see the thug pocketing a syringe—whatever he injected into Jace didn’t take effect right away, but immediate drugging wasn’t one of the contingencies they’d planned for.

  Jace strained to see where the suits were going. Agent Smith was saying something to Piper, but Jace couldn’t make out the words. Just as the thug none-too-gently hauled him to his feet, Agent Smith strolled around the car. His face was full of red fury, no doubt from whatever line Piper had fed him.

  “What are you up to, Mr. River?”

  “About six-foot-two. Yourself?”

  “Whatever game you’re playing here, I want you to understand: I’m going to win it.” He narrowed his eyes at Jace. “And my multimillion dollar research project could use another guinea pig. Nice of you to volunteer.”

  “I just can’t get enough of your charm, Agent Smith.”

  Agent Smith looked seriously unimpressed. He lifted his chin to the thug standing closest Jace, who then sideswiped the butt of his gun across Jace’s face. Pain exploded across his cheek, and his head whipped to the side so hard, it spun him to the ground. He tasted blood, but he was sure Agent Smith was just warming up. Shifters healed fast, which meant they could take quite a beating… and Jace already knew Agent Smith liked to mete those out from when he got his jollies with Jaxson strapped to a chair. Watching that go down had been painful, but Jace would happily take whatever Agent Smith had to dish out as long as he didn’t start in on Piper. If he did, there was going to be a problem. Namely that Jace wasn’t sure he could keep himself under control.

  At least the two of them were still conscious—whatever the thugs had injected into them wasn’t knocking them out. Which meant it was probably more of the drug Agent Smith had used before to keep them from shifting.

  “Bring them,” Agent Smith barked. The scuff of his hard-soled shoes meant he was done with Jace for the moment. One of the thugs cuffed his hands behind his back and hauled him up from the ground. He shoved Jace toward the back of his own car, which had been commandeered by the second thug. Agent Smith was returning to the Jeep, while the other suit had Piper by the arm, climbing into the back seat. He pulled Piper into his lap, holding a gun conspicuously pressed against her side. Her hands were cuffed behind her, forcing them into the suit’
s lap… which Jace was sure the suit was getting off on. The thug guarding Jace shoved him in next to them in the back while he took a seat up front. He kept his pistol trained on Jace’s head.

  Piper squirmed a little in the suit’s lap. “It’s getting a little stiff in here. Do you like what you’re feeling, G-man?” Piper’s sultry tone just reddened the suit’s face, which would have made Jace laugh… except then the man gave her a vicious leer behind her back and moved his gun to obviously caress Piper’s breast.

  “I’m kind of hoping you’ll misbehave, Ms. Wilding.”

  Piper huffed with disdain. “Don’t get your hopes up, shorty. I don’t misbehave for men in cheap suits.”

  The unnamed agent growled and jabbed his gun deeper into Piper’s chest. “Keep talking and we’ll see.”

  Jace’s wolf was clawing to come out, and they hadn’t even gotten within a mile of how bad this could go.

  “Tell me again why I agreed to this?” he asked Piper, not exactly blowing their cover, but he couldn’t help letting her know he was seething with dislike about this whole thing.

  “Because Daddy ratted these guys out, remember, pumpkin?” Her strained smile had a definite what the fuck are you doing? look to it. But Jace didn’t think it mattered—they were rambling toward the hangar, regardless. Nothing they said at this point would matter.

  “I know, but he didn’t mention anything about handcuffs,” Jace said, straining to keep his voice light. “Is it too late to mention I’m not into the kinky stuff?”

  “Shut up.” The front-seat thug nudged Jace’s head back with the barrel tip of his gun.

  Jace glared at him, but followed Piper’s lead and kept quiet for the rest of the ride in. As they were hustled into the main hangar, Jace hoped Jaxson was still getting a good feed on the audio, as well as the button cameras—and that he’d get his ass in here if things went badly for Piper.

  Jace tried to twist around, giving his brother a solid look at the inside of the hangar, but it wasn’t anything good—dozens of paramilitary types, even more staff in medical scrubs, and at least fifty shifters in cages and strapped to gurneys in miniature medical suites. Where had they all come from? There couldn’t be this many that had gone missing from Seattle. Were they bringing in others from around the country?